F1 teams are limited to just three engines for the 2021 campaign, but a number of outfits are already battling to find a way to survive all the races without breaking the limit.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will definitely need an extra session after losing an engine to damage in his British Grand Prix crash.
His bosses have not yet decided when this swap will take place, but they are ready to start at the Monza event this weekend if they think he can minimize the damage caused by a grid crash.
It has now turned out that Mercedes is also considering opting for a fourth copy so as not to risk a potential reliability problem later in the campaign.
World Champion Lewis Hamilton has only two engines left, with the engine he used in training at Zandvoort before quitting having reached the end of its life.
Before qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said his team had to carefully examine what it was doing with its engine plan.
“I think we all have problems with the drive units,” he told Sky Sports F1. “And maybe not just the reliability, but also how hard these units work and how much they really deteriorate.
“There are definitely thoughts for the weekend [of making a change] but we haven’t come to a conclusion yet. “
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Wolff said that with such a close battle for the championship against Red Bull and Verstappen, his team could only afford one engine failure that put it out of the running.
“We believe that between P1 and P2 with the fastest lap, if you have a DNF, it takes the other four races to catch up,” he explained. “And that’s brutal.
“So you can afford to finish second four times [place]. So you just really have to play it safe and not sacrifice performance. “
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